News / Broke into former home
A MAN who broke into the house he had only recently sold in an attempt to find a place to sleep after a night out in Lerwick has been fined £250.
Lewis Sykes, of Gulberwick’s Hillside Brae, previously admitted smashing a garage window and a pane of glass within an external door at the town property on 29 December.
The 26 year old also pled guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by pretending to police that he was the owner over the property and he was residing there, but had lost his keys.
At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the alarm was raised at around 1am when neighbours heard the sound of breaking glass.
Sykes was seen “effectively breaking into the property” and police quickly attended the scene, but he tried to hide from the officers.
The 26 year old invented a “cock and bull story” about how he was still the owner of the property and showed the police identifying documents which were still in the house.
The plan seemed to have worked until the new homeowners, who had not yet moved into the property, saw the smashed window in the morning and phoned the police.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client had been drinking at a party after selling his house “effectively the day before” and “took more drink than he is normally capable of handling”.
The control room operator apologised to the new homeowners and shelled out £1,000 in repairs and compensation before telling the police that he had lied to them about owning and living in the property.
Sheriff Philip Mann said it was a “really stupid thing to do” and would have caused an “unpleasant shock” to the neighbours and the new homeowners.
Given the circumstances, the sheriff admonished Sykes on the property damage charge but fined him for lying to the police.
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